Featured
Innovative Second and Delaware Apartment Project Expects to Resume Work this Summer
(Updated Aug. 16) Jonathan Arnold, the developer of Second and Delaware, told the PIEA board construction is expected to resume in September with completion expected in mid-2020. Rising labor and material costs have pumped up the overall project cost to $71 million. Arnold said the development still is expected to be the world’s largest “passive house…
Sweet Scoop: Betty Rae’s Ice Cream Coming to River Market
By Kevin Collison Betty Rae’s Ice Cream, an instant success when it opened in Waldo in March 2016, is opening a second location in the River Market this summer. The neighborhood ice cream parlor with a national reputation plans to take the space formerly occupied by Cafe al Dente restaurant at 412 Delaware St. It…
Restored 1887 Mansion Offers Unique Airbnb Stay on Downtown’s West Side
By Kevin Collison The 130-year-old Queen Anne Revival Victorian mansion on downtown’s West Side charmed Megan Duma the moment she saw it listed more than a year ago. Only problem, the Kansas City, Kan. native was on the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia, when she fell in love with the old brick…
ULI Panel Offers Bold Concepts to Energize Barney Allis Plaza
By Kevin Collison Barney Allis Plaza, a dreary downtown centerpiece, could be lowered to street level and transformed into a large event lawn flanked by garden and “adventure” playground areas, all atop a new garage, in a $63 million redevelopment concept suggested last week. The proposal endorsed by an local Urban Land Institute panel assembled…
Broadway Deli Plans to Pile on the Pastrami in the Crossroads
By Kevin Collison In a match made in sandwich heaven, the soon-to-open Broadway Deli is bringing the piled-on-thick, genuine Chicago flavor of Manny’s, one of America’s great Jewish delicatessens, to the Crossroads Arts District. The new deli, which plans to open in late April, is a collaborative venture between Bill Fromm, an entrepreneur who founded…
Streetcar Extension ‘Buzz’ Sparks Big Apartment Project at 39th and Main
By Kevin Collison Construction is expected to begin by late spring on a $34 million residential redevelopment project at 39th and Main, the largest private investment to date prompted by the anticipated extension of the streetcar from downtown to UMKC. The redevelopment of the historic Netherland Hotel building and the neighboring Monarch Storage building into…
Dream of Reconnecting Downtown to Crossroads with Park Over South Loop Costs Much Less
By Kevin Collison A longtime dream to reconnect downtown with the Crossroads by decking the 1960s era South Loop trench may be closer to reality under a new plan that slices more than $60 million from earlier cost estimates. The study done by HNTB at the request of the Downtown Council and partly funded by…
Crossroads Academy Finds Downtown Home for 600-Student Prep School
By Kevin Collison The Crossroads Academy has found a permanent home for its long-awaited downtown high school, the historic Thayer Building at 816 Broadway. Acquiring the building marks the culmination of a educational journey that began in 2012 when the downtown charter school opened with 190 elementary students in a former office building at 1015…
East Crossroads Project Will Likely Include Over 300 Apartments
By Kevin Collison A development in the works for a two-block site in the East Crossroads will likely include more than 300 apartments and significant commercial space, according to an attorney for the developer, Indianapolis-based Milhaus. Attorney Chris Kline told the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority Thursday that details are still being prepared by Milhaus but…
Award-Winning Chef Michael Smith Opening New Crossroads Restaurant
By Kevin Collison Renowned Chef Michael Smith is celebrating his passion for Italian cuisine by opening a new restaurant in the Crossroads Arts District next door to his current namesake establishment. “Farina by Michael Smith” will be located at 19th and Baltimore in space formerly occupied by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Smith said…